Hyderabad: A gang of six persons involved in a series of robberies in the jurisdiction of the Rachakonda commissionerate was caught by the Special Operations Team on Monday.
Police say they are responsible for several offences — four in Hayathnagar, and one each in LB Nagar, Chaitanya-puri and Nizamabad — in October and November. The gang robbed houses located in secluded areas by instilling fear in the inmates.
After working for over a month on clues collected from several places, the LB Nagar Special Operations Team caught Chowhan Thara Singh, 30, M.D. Sonu, 24, Bittu, 25, Gufthan, 20, Saif Ali, 20, Sadiq, 20, and M.D. Sajeed, 45, all residents of Akola in Maharashtra.
The families of the accused live in Simla in Himachal Pradesh, but move about as is common with nomads. They have no permanent residence.
Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat on Monday said that the arrested persons and their associates are all nomads and belong to the Ghuman gang. “The investigation has revealed that the grandparents of the accused persons migrated to India from Bangladesh some decades ago and settled in West Bengal. They travel to different states and sell blankets and toys on the roadside,” he said.
For the last two years, the gang has stayed in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madh-ya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh and was currently taking shelter in Khadki in Akola district of Maharashtra.
Commissioner Bhagwat said that the accused tried to dispose of the stolen property in Akola, but were unsuccessful. They wanted to go to Delhi to dispose of the property.
“The gang members, though, believe in Durga goddess at Vijayawada. On their way there from Secunderabad, they passed through Hayathnagar and found that the area is very conducive with bushes, and open places, and easy to escape from. Then, they robbed seven places,” said the commissioner.
“With the help of the mobile phone signal of one of the accused, their movements were tracked to Madhya Pradesh, UP, Delhi, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. With the help of intelligence collected, six persons were nabbed at Hayathnagar when they came for another burglary. On their confession, Sajeed, who was waiting at LB Nagar metro station was also nabbed along with the booty,” said another official, who is part of the probe.
The gang members confessed to having committed six more offences in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
The police team recovered 150 gm of gold, 400 gm of silver, four mobile phones, Rs 3,000 in cash, altogether worth Rs 6.55 lakh and two knives. They have been remanded to judicial custody.
